Buying Montana Real Estate

Buying a Home

Our mission is to educate buyers and make the process as easy to understand as possible. When you're ready to buy a home in the Flathead Valley, we can help.
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Buyer Blueprint

We believe in educating home buyers, so they can make the best decision possible. Below is information to help get you moving in the right direction.

Debunking Myths for First Time Buyers

Uncertainty and misinformation is all too prevalent in real estate, confusing first time buyers into staying away from the industry altogether. We’re setting out to make it more approachable so that you can feel comfortable considering your next step. Below is a blueprint of the average home buying process.

Audit and Prep Your Finances

Before booking tours or hopping online to look at pictures, it’s important to evaluate your financial health. Do you have enough savings for an emergency fund? Are you actively paying off any debt? Have you cut any necessary spending? These are all questions to answer before beginning your new real estate investment.

Prioritize Your Wishlist and Goals

Think through your dream home and neighborhood to decide what is necessary and what may be more of a perk. Having that list in advance will help you evaluate each home without letting your heart get set on something - whether it’s the perfect school district or that en suite in the master bedroom.

Whether purchasing your first home or downsizing for retirement, you can make a rational and strategic plan on how to ensure your new home - and life - is exactly what you’re looking for.

Explore the Area

Location location location! It determines your lifestyle, your maintenance, your school system, your commute… We could go on and on. Based on your wish list, your agent should be able to help narrow down your search and give you a tour of potential areas!

Get Pre-Approved

How much house can you really afford? A lender can help you understand your budget and get you pre-approved, a very important step as some sellers’ agents won’t even let you tour without it. And it will help your search stay focused! Check out our Mortgage Calculator below.

Mortgage Payments

free mortgage calculator by mlcalc.com

Learn About Leverage

The vast majority of home buyers assume that a 30-year-fixed mortgage is the best route just because it’s the most traditional. But that may not necessarily be the case. Along with your CPA, a lender can help you choose the right product based on your income levels and structure.

Decide How You Want to Hold Title

When you purchase a home, you are getting more than just the keys. You’ll also become an official title holder. Not only does it determine how your home will be insured, but it can have legal consequences. Consulting an attorney can help you understand the best way to hold your estate.

Home Search Tools

Sites like Zillow and Redfin are great resources for home-buyers and give a general idea when it comes to home statistics, but they are not always 100% accurate. The only way to be sure of a home’s history, value, comparables and other information is to hire a real estate agent who is well-versed in the area and price point of your search.

We can also set up a Collection based on your home specifications that will track the market, allow you to peruse all your home options and send automated price and status updates directly to your email.

Or you can download our search app!

Off Market Deals

Since marketing is limited, off market deals are typically harder to bring together, but they can be a great opportunity to get better pricing and terms for both parties.

Strong agents will have leads and connections regarding upcoming inventory just from community experience and previous outreach. If we have a buyer who has exhausted their search or if they are looking for something specific that isn’t on the market, we can send letters out to homeowners in the desired area and may be interested in selling.

New Construction vs Existing Home

Not all homes are alike, and neither is the buying process. But home buyers are often surprised to learn that new construction in particular has several nuances and differences from buying other homes.

For example, did you know that if you tour the property without an agent you are automatically agreeing to work with the developer as your representation? Always take your agent to new construction projects!

Offer Strategy

Because of your initial consultation and continued communication, a good agent will recognize your priorities and how they may change throughout. This skill will help them determine how well a home fits your needs. It will also equip them to ask the right questions of the seller’s agent and gather key information about the seller’s wants, needs and goals so they can cater to them with your offer.

Multiple Offer Situations

Multiple offers on a home should reassure you that you found a desirable property that will likely be easier to resell later. But you will need to make yourself stand out amidst other offers. Here are three ways:

#1 - Hire a strong agent. They will be able to collect information on what’s important to the seller (ex. Shorter escrow, rent back, etc) to draft a compelling offer.

#2 – Be competitive! Check your gut!

#3 - Think through your own terms. Speeding up or waiving a contingency can be very desirable for a seller, but this will depend on your own personal risk level and timeline.

Counter Offers

It’s rare that a seller will accept your first offer - it’s all part of the process. But countering does take a certain amount of finesse, and you want to be sure the opposite side remains an ally. We can’t understate the importance of understanding the seller’s motivation when it comes to negotiation. This helps really key in on how to set your offer up for success.
Continue to ask a lot of questions, and remember that if you get too aggressive, it can work but you might have set yourself up to lose another aspect of the negotiation down the line. You typically can’t maintain the “winner takes all” approach throughout the entire process, so you want to aim for a mutually beneficial result.. Keep in mind: If someone is being forced to sell or buy - you may have different leverage points.

Want to make your home buyer journey easier? We can help.

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